ऊर्जाशक्तीचा जागर Urjashakticha Jagar (The Awakening of Inner Energy)

शाळा आणि गुरुजनांचा उल्लेख निघाला की माशेलकरांना आपल्या मुंबईतील शाळेकडे आणि तिथल्या शिक्षकांकडे कृतज्ञतेने पाहावेसे वाटते, पण त्याहूनही मोठे ऋण त्यांना आपल्या आईचे आणि मामांचे वाटते, कारण त्यांच्यामुळेच शाळेचा रस्ता त्यांना दिसला. आई ही केवळ शिक्षिका नव्हती, तर त्यांचे संपूर्ण जग होती, असे ते सांगतात.

Whenever an interview turns to school memories, Mashelkar's mind instinctively drifts back to those old classrooms in Mumbai, where a few affectionate teachers shaped him. He openly acknowledges his debt to them, but is equally insistent on one point: the two people who opened that school's doors to him in the first place must never be forgotten, his mother and her brother. Every mother is said to be a child's first teacher, but for Mashelkar this bond went well beyond that of teacher and student, his entire existence was woven around her.

माशेलकरांचा जन्म गोव्याच्या दक्षिण भागातल्या माशेल या गावी झाला. वयाच्या सहाव्या वर्षी वडिलांचे छत्र हरपले आणि उदरनिर्वाहासाठी आई-मुलाला मुंबईची वाट धरावी लागली. तिथे एका दाटीवाटीच्या खोलीत ते राहू लागले, घरची स्थिती खूपच बेताची होती आणि शाळेत जाणेही सोपे नव्हते.

A quiet village near the southern coast of Goa is Mashelkar's native place, and his childhood days passed there. Faded memories of playing on the open village grounds and lingering under a shady tree still drift through his mind now and then. At the tender age of six he lost his father, and afterwards, to solve the problem of survival, mother and son had to leave their village behind for Mumbai. There, the two of them set up home in a cramped room of an old chawl. Money was perpetually scarce, his barely-schooled mother ran the household single-handed, and though he himself longed to study, the question of where the school fee would come from constantly loomed before him.

एवढी हलाखीची परिस्थिती असूनही आई हतबल झाली नाही, ती वेगवेगळी छोटी-मोठी कामे करत राहिली. त्याच काळात गावाकडून मुंबईत आलेल्या मामांनी मदत केली, आणि त्यांच्यामुळेच एका नगरपालिका शाळेत प्रवेश मिळाला. चप्पल घ्यायलाही पैसे नसल्याने बाराव्या वर्षापर्यंत ते अनवाणीच शाळेत जात, पण तिथले शिक्षक मात्र मनाने खूप श्रीमंत होते.

Despite such adversity, his mother never gave up, taking on whatever work came her way and fighting on with grim determination. Around this time her brother too had settled in Mumbai from their village, and it was through his efforts that Mashelkar secured admission at a nearby municipal school. Just as the family's means were modest, so were the school's resources, yet the teachers there possessed a remarkably generous spirit. With no money even for simple sandals, his schooling began, and continued, entirely barefoot until he turned twelve.

प्राथमिक शिक्षण संपल्यावर हायस्कूलच्या फीचा प्रश्न उभा राहिला, कारण एकवीस रुपयेही घरात नव्हते. आईने आजूबाजूची कामे करून काही पैसे जमवले आणि एका ओळखीच्या व्यक्तीने उरलेली मदत केली, पण तोपर्यंत नामांकित शाळांतील जागा भरल्या गेल्या होत्या. शेवटी युनियन हायस्कूलमध्ये प्रवेश मिळाला आणि माध्यमिक शिक्षण सुरू झाले.

Once primary school was behind him and it was time for the next stage, a fresh crisis presented itself. The high-school admission fee in those years came to twenty-one rupees, and raising even that sum at home seemed near impossible. It appeared his education might stall right there, but once again his mother refused to accept defeat. Taking on washing and household chores for neighbours, she slowly began setting money aside, and as it happened, around the same time an acquaintance offered to make up the remaining amount, finally resolving the fee problem. By then, however, the seats at the well-regarded schools of Girgaon of that era had already filled, and in the end the doors of Union High School opened for him, marking the start of his secondary education.

युनियन हायस्कूलमध्ये अभ्यास करताना एक भौतिकशास्त्राचे शिक्षक भेटले, ज्यांनी विषय शिकवतानाच जीवनाचे तत्त्वज्ञानही शिकवले. त्यांनी एकदा भिंगातून सूर्यकिरण एकत्र करून कागद जाळण्याचा प्रयोग केला आणि सांगितले की आपली शक्ती एकवटली तर काहीही साध्य करता येते. या एका प्रसंगातून माशेलकरांना एकाग्रतेचे महत्त्व आणि विज्ञानाचे तत्त्व दोन्ही उमगले.

Facing countless such difficulties, without even proper space to study in his own cramped room, Mashelkar nonetheless immersed himself resourcefully in his studies and kept scoring well in exams. It was at this same school that he crossed paths with a physics teacher who did not confine himself to textbook formulas, but kindled genuine curiosity about the subject and, through it, instilled a broader outlook on life. One day in class he performed a simple yet striking demonstration, focusing sunlight through a lens onto a single point until the paper caught fire, and, smiling at Mashelkar, he remarked that when all one's energy is channelled in a single direction, nothing remains impossible. In that one simple sentence lay both the value of concentration and a fundamental principle of science, revealed to him at once.